My server is at my home, so I have direct access.
I did get to wondering if permissions were and issue and this is what I saw:
drwxr-xr-x 2 hemlock root 4096 2008-09-08 14:28 akismet
drwx------ 2 hemlock hemlock 4096 2008-09-10 19:17 countdown-timer
drwx------ 2 hemlock hemlock 4096 2008-09-10 19:17 ebibleicious
drwx------ 6 hemlock hemlock 4096 2008-09-10 18:59 events-calendar
drwx------ 3 hemlock hemlock 4096 2008-09-10 19:17 quotes-collection
drwx------ 2 hemlock hemlock 4096 2008-09-10 19:17 sms-text-message
The plugin that came with the WordPress install "akismet" has read, write, and execute for owner, execute, read for group, and execute for others. One other thing "akismet's" group is "root." The owner and group are the same for the plugins I added. The permissions that where added to the plugins I added only have permissions for the owner. Could that be a problem? The owner controls the sql database and the WordPress installation. I only have one WordPress installation. Below are the permissions for my folders/directories. Later today I will try to give the same permissions to my plugins as "akismet" that came with the install.
drwxr-xr-x 4 hemlock root 4096 2008-09-08 14:28 wp-content
drwxr-xr-x 4 hemlock root 4096 2008-09-08 14:28 wp-content
drwxr-xr-x 9 hemlock root 4096 2008-09-10 19:34 plugins